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Koksar bridge opened to light vehicles
Ensure smooth working of Nathpa
project, nigam told
9 HAS officers transferred
Drought-like situation hits maize, |
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Now planning dept to formulate plans for villages too
Man threatens DC with sickle
Reports on illegal tree
felling refuted
Waste management plant opposed
Operators seek hike in bus fares
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Koksar bridge opened to light vehicles
Mandi, September 13 Inputs from Koksar revealed that the BRO opened the highway at 5 o’ clock first for light vehicles, and trucks will follow tonight or in the morning. Over 1000 small and big vehicles were stranded on the highway on both sides of the Koksar bridge and in Keylong in the land-locked Lahaul valley since September 4, when two overloaded trucks which crossed simultaneously and damaged the bridge. Mr KB Raju, commander, BRO said that the bridge was re-assembled as overloaded trucks hit the bridge twisted it and broke centre of the panels. We have lodged an FIR at the Koksar police post”, he added. Mr Raju said that they had allowed light vehicles as the bridge takes time to set properly. Then bigger vehicles will follow”, he informed. Mr Raju added that overloading was the major problem for the breach of the Bailey bridge on the Manali-Leh. The bailey bridge can not carry more than nine tonnes of load and collapses. “We have been requesting the Kulu and Lahaul-Spiti district authorities to check overloading on the highway, but to no avail”, he said. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Manali Kushal Sharma said that they had no weigh bridge to check as which vehicle was overloaded or not. Moreover we have no space and staff to check hundred of vehicles that leave set for Keylong”, he explained. |
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Ensure smooth working of Nathpa
project, nigam told
Shimla, September 13 Mr Anil Kutty, Joint Secretary (Hydro), Union Ministry of Power, who was here in connection with the emergency meeting of the board of directors held today, is learnt to have apprised the management of Centre’s concern regarding the repeated flooding and other technical problems in hydroelectric projects in the country. Underlining the need for prompt restoration of the project which has been shut down since September 4, he also called for an in-depth study of the problems plaguing the project. He said the nigam should come out with a plan to find a permanent solution to the problems so that project could generate uninterrupted power. The government of India had already ordered an inquiry to ascertain the cause of bursting of the labyrinth pipe but the immediate concern was to resume generation. The board of directors took stock of the situation and granted necessary authorisation for making purchase of material and machinery required for carrying out repairs and restoration of the power plant. Meanwhile, dewatering of the submerged underground powerhouse had been speeded up and water was receding by 240 cm every day.
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9 HAS officers transferred
Shimla, September 13 Mr Rakesh Kanwar, Additional District Magistrate, Shimla, has been posted as Project Director, District Primary Education Programme, vice Mr D.K. Gupta, who takes over as Secretary, State Election Commission. Mr Akshay Sood, Additional Secretary, Finance, goes as Secretary, State Women Commission, vice Mr R.K. Sharma, who has been posted as Assistant Settlement Officer, Shimla. Mr Prem Singh Drak, on return from leave, takes over as Additional Director, Tourism, while Mr Dhruv Vashishth, Additional Secretary, personnel, has been posted as Managing Director of HIMFED, in place of Mr Rakesh Sharma, who goes as Director of Technical Education. Mr Hamanshu Chaudhary, Assistant Commissioner to Deputy Commissioner, Sirmour, has been posted as Assistant Commissioner to Divisional Commissioner, Mandi. Mr Raghubir Verma, Regional Transport Officer (Flying Squad), goes as Land Acquisition Officer (PWD), Kulu. |
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Drought-like situation hits maize, paddy crops
Mandi, September 13 The prevailing drought has hit paddy and maize farmers mainly in the areas of Sundernagar, Gohar, Karsog, Mandi Sadar, Sarkaghat, Gopalpur, Dharampur and other blocks in the non-irrigated areas where over 20 per cent crop has been damaged over the past two weeks. Farmers said maize sowing was delayed in the non-irrigated areas due to the prevailing drought at that time. “Now cracks have appeared mainly in the paddy fields as it has not been raining in the areas for the past 12 days”, they rued. The farmers said that grains of paddy had not developed properly due to the drought. “The paddy production will fall by over 20 per cent. Even wind has flattened the paddy crop in scattered pockets of the district. Once the crop falls flat, the grains start rotting,” said Mr S. Bains, a paddy farmer from Balh valley. Since over 80 per cent of the cultivated area under paddy depends on the monsoon, the drought takes its toll on the crop every year, explained agricultural officials. “Paddy in the irrigated area is not much affected in pockets the Balh, Sundernagar and Jogindernagar and farmers there expect a reasonable good crop”, they said. The drought has also damaged over 20-25 per cent of the maize crop in the district. The maize grains could not develop due to drought-like conditions over the past 12 days, said the farmers. |
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Now planning dept to formulate plans for villages too
Shimla, September 13 The unplanned urbanisation of rural areas has been creating a plethora of problems. Haphazard growth has been a major cause of environmental degradation as villages have been lacking the basic amenities to sustain growth. The situation has been worst in habitations along the highways where ribbon development along the highways is not only defacing the beautiful hills but also causing traffic congestion. Unlike towns where the focus is on regulating construction activity and strengthening of basic infrastructure facilities, the model village development plans will aim at improving the quality of life through systematic modernisation and ensuring optimum utilisation of the land, water and other resources. The main areas of concern will be environmental degradation, preservation of the heritage and sustainable growth of the villages. In the first phase, model village development plans are being prepared for Naggar in Kulu, Maniana and Gaddal in Mandi, Garli Pragpur in Kangra, Sarhan and Mashobra in Shimla and Kalpa in Kinnaur district. No set parameters have been fixed for village development plans which will be prepared keeping in view the local resources, topography and potential. For instance, in villages like Garli Pragpur and Naggar the focus will be on preservation of heritage, while in Mashobra the plan will aim to exploit its potential for rural tourism. The first model development plan has already been finalised for Raghunathpura village in the Bilaspur district. Spread over 67 hectare, it is a typical pastoral village with over 42 per cent land under agriculture and grasslands. |
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Man threatens DC with sickle
Dharamsala, September 13 Talking to The Tribune, Mr Khera said the man, identified as Fakir Chand, had submitted a grievance, concerning Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, to his office nearly a year back. He had been an employee of the limited in the past. Today he was told that the matter did not fall under the jurisdiction of the state government and it had therefore been forwarded to the CVC and the Ministry of Defence for necessary action. This made him frustrated and he immediately flashed the weapon. The office staff immediately overpowered him and handed him over to the police, said Mr Khera. Superintendent of Police S.P. Singh said that he was being interrogated and preliminary investigation suggested that he was mentally disturbed. “We received a call from the Mini-Secretariat and a police party was immediately sent there to nab the accused,” he said. Police sources added that the 52-year-old man claimed to be an ex-serviceman. He was reportedly very upset with the widespread corruption and red tape in the bureaucracy. He said that he had been writing letters to top officials in the bureaucracy but nobody bothered to look into his grievance. He is a resident of Jaisinghpur. |
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Reports on illegal tree
felling refuted
Shimla, September 13 He clarified that the private timber sale depots, joinery units and furniture shops were controlled under the state Sale of Timber Act, 1968, and all suitable legal action was being taken against illegal fellings and smuggling of timber in the state. Referring to Mandi circle, he said at present 53 private sale timber depots in five forest divisions of the circle had been registered under the Act. He said 154 private furniture shops were working for the last 15 to 20 years and they did not come up over the past two years as alleged in the news reports. Moreover a strict check as being exercised to check misuse of TD by the Forest Department by taking legal action against such right holders all over the state. He said that all Divisional Forest Officers had been issued strict instructions to conduct night raids, surprise checks in saw mills, furniture shops and joinery units and order closure of any unit found indulging in illegal activity or which had not been registered. He said three new temporary forest barriers at Palsechar, Dharmdwara and Kanda had been opened to control the smuggling of timber. |
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Waste management plant opposed
Shimla, September 13 Mr Ram Lal Thakur, former pradhan, said the site selected by the corporation for the plant would not only pollute the Gambhar nullah, which was the source of about 10 water supply schemes, but also required felling of over 2,000 trees of oak, pine and rhododendron. The people had preserved the forest which they had been using for grazing. Further the Jabbar Hatti airport was only 200 m away and as per the norms of the National Airport Authority no garbage or other material, which attracted birds, could be thrown up to a radius of 1 km from the airport. Moreover, it was on the outskirts of Shimla and the way town was expanding it would become part of it soon. |
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Operators seek hike in bus fares
Shimla, September 13 A deputation of the association led by its president, Mr Dev Raj Sharma, met Mr Avay Shukla, Principal Secretary, Transport, here today and impressed upon him that the bus operators were incurring heavy losses as the bus fares had not been revised since April 2003 and over the past 29 months the diesel price had been increased several times. The total increase came to about Rs 8 per litre. The association pleaded for a review of the decision to increase the special road tax. The government had assured the association in March that the rate would be increased by 5 per cent instead of the proposed 7 per cent. However, the officers of the department presented wrong data before the government as a result of which the special road tax had been increased by 24 per cent. |
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Delimitation Commission
Shimla, September 13 |
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Meeting put off
Shimla, September 13 The incessant rain and poor visibility made the helicopter flights impossible as a result of which Mr Shivraj Patil, Union Home Minister, who was to preside over the meeting , and Chief Ministers of various northern states could not make it to Shimla. Only the Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, reached here by road last evening.
— TNS |
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